âOdd Mom Outâ sets: Nine Inch Nails meets Wednesday Addams
Traditionally the neighborhood of choice for the well-heeled and well-educated, Manhattanâs Upper East Side has included Rockefellers and Roosevelts among its residents, not to mention famous fussbudgets such as Charlotte from âSex and the City.â But itâs hard to imagine any of them living in the Eastside apartment occupied by Jill Weber and family in âOdd Mom Out,â Bravoâs first scripted sitcom. In lieu of pastel hues and muted creams, there are charcoals and bold wallpaper; rather than family heirlooms and English antiques, there are flea market finds and crystal-studded skulls; and filling in for Dutch masters and coveted contemporary art are playful prints and chalkboard paint (so the kids can create their own works).
Based on star Jill Kargmanâs bestseller âMomzillas,â about not fitting in with the neighborhoodâs trust fund set, the series even takes its style cues from Kargmanâs real life. âThe apartment is actually based on Jillâs real home on the Upper East Side,â says production designer Angelique Clark. âItâs very much like her personality -- lighthearted and whimsical. She likes bold contrast and not too much color, but when there is color, itâs bold. Jill has an interesting sort of Nine Inch Nails meets Wednesday Addams style, so we took that as inspiration and amplified it a little bit.â
While the production couldnât get clearance (or afford) some of the art that occupies Kargmanâs actual digs, similar items were found among a variety of sources. For example, a Damian Hirst skull piece in the actress/writerâs home was out of the question, but skulls are represented throughout the onscreen rooms via prints found online; ditto for the glittering skull-shaped phone on a bedside table (the original is from Patricia Field).
The apartmentâs black and white theme begins in the open kitchen, with its classic white subway tile, black trimmed white cabinets and blackboard painted island. Color comes from a lipstick red Smeg refrigerator and a sign spelling out âpizzaâ over the sink. (âWe found it on Etsy -- thatâs actually something Jill has in her home,â says Clark.) Highlights in the master bedroom shared by the Webers are the black-shaded mercury lamps on white side tables and dramatic wallpaper backdrop (Ashfield Floral in gun metal by Ralph Lauren). The âLoveâ and âLustâ pillows are by Jonathan Adler. The high contrast motif even extends to the simple retro style bathroom with more subway tile, and a much-envied shower curtain printed with barbershop items (by Izzola, itâs available at Amazon).
While the living room sofa is from Restoration Hardware, and reasonable facsimiles of other furniture, such as the bergere chair and nail-trimmed headboard, can be found at places such as Ballard Designs, copying the apartmentâs singular style is doable. âWe did a lot of shopping for it on Etsy and Ebay, and scoured estate sales, too,â says Clark, who seems to have a lock on cutting-edge comedies with âBroad Cityâ and âInside Amy Schumerâ among her credits. âAnd you can always get great stuff at Target. Thereâs a lot of ways to re-create this look -- you just have to be creative.â
âOdd Mom Outâ airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on Bravo.
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